In this issue, you’ll find 9 exceptional articles to help you grow your business.

But first, a quick story…

I had this realization this week, and I wanted to share it with you…

Sometimes, when I’m super bummed about how a project is turning out, it actually makes me feel better when I realize my effort just wasn’t sufficient.

Instead of feeling as though some big, unseen force is holding me back, I can just recognize that my outcomes have been subpar because my input was subpar.

That realization usually shines a spotlight on my power to have an effect, to turn things around, to right the ship—to take control.

It’s usually a big epiphany for me.

To learn you hold more reigns of success than you previously knew is like finding a twenty dollar bill in your jacket that you’d totally forgotten about.

I notice this a lot in mastermind calls. Here’s an example…

Member A is struggling to grow their business. A lot of meetings have gone by and not much has changed.

The other mastermind members try to be helpful and suggest maybe it’s time to abandon this idea, time to move on to a new business idea that Member A can be more successful with.

For poor Member A, this is heart-wrenching feedback.

If you’re on a video call, you’ll see their face go through the stages of grief. Have you been there? I’ve been there. It goes something like this…

You’re shocked, taken aback. You nod your head in agreement as a visual show of acceptance, but you don’t really mean it. Then, you get defensive. Maybe even a bit angry.

Briefly, you consider maybe it’s time to find a new mastermind group, because this crazy bunch is trying to tell you to abandon double-digit months of hard work when—who knows?!—you could be on the cusp of a huge breakthrough!

After all, you just need to clear these itty bitty hurdles, and you’ll be all good.

But, no, these yahoos are trying to tell you to quit, to give up, to declare defeat.

W-in the actual-f.

But here’s the thing… they might be right.

Or, maybe they’re wrong, and you really are on the verge of righting this ship.

How to perform an Effort Audit? It’s easy. It’s just three steps, and it takes maybe 3 minutes.

All you have to do is examine your effort. Look at the inputs that you’ve had control over, and ask yourself if you’ve really skillfully executed your plan. Ask yourself if you’ve really done everything necessary to ensure the best outcome. You know the answer in your gut, so just be honest.

Specifically, here it is:

Step 1: List each desired outcome that didn’t work out right.

For example…

I wanted influencers in my market to help promote my product at launch.

That’s an example of a desired outcome. You may only have one, or maybe there’s three or four. The number doesn’t matter.

Step 2: For each outcome, outline no more than 3 steps (or tactics) you needed to perform to execute that step.

Example:

To get influencers to share my product launch, I needed to…

- Make a list of ten influencers that typically share this sort of product to their audience

- Draft three emails to send to each influencer

- Send the first email, and schedule the follow-up emails for each influencer on my list

Step 3: Finally, go back and cross off anything you completed to the best of your ability.

Seriously. On a scale of 1-10, if you know in your gut that you gave a 9 or 10 effort for that thing, cross it off.

So, that’s the end of the audit.

Three minutes.

Easy.

What does the Effort Audit give you?

It helps you focus on what to do now.

No more wallowing. Just action.

Your next steps are simple: for everything that you didn’t cross off, GO RIGHT NOW AND MAKE TIME TO DO THOSE THINGS.

Okay, obviously this exercise is super simple, but a lot of us skip it, because it feels so much better to blame someone or something else when things don’t go as planned.

Me: “man, I wish there were more shade in my back yard”

Mastermind group: “Did you plant any trees?”

Me: “Well, no.”

Group: “Go plant a tree!”

Me: “Okay! I can do that.”

Group: “At our next meeting, you’re going to tell us what kind of tree you planted.”

That’s the power of a good mastermind group. They should help you question your effort, because that’s usually where most of your hurdles are. Next, and just as important: your group should hold you accountable to giving your best.

And then the real work can begin. The real turnaround process.

If you’re looking for this kind of feedback, this kind of support, this kind of accountability, find yourself a good mastermind group.

If you’d like help finding a good mastermind, you can learn more at MastermindJam.com

There, you’ll find articles to help you create your own free mastermind, as well as a members-only community where you can join a mastermind as soon as today.

Here’s an honest case study for why some startups should consider taking on debt to grow their business. It can buy you freedom to grow it your own way.

In this case study, after receiving an offer to sell their startup Wistia, the company’s founders decided to go an unconventional route and instead raise $17M in debt to buy out their investors and regain control of their company, so that they could continue growing independently.

It’s no secret that customer retention is more vital to subscription-based businesses than just about any growth metric. If your customer turnover is high, your acquisition rate has to outpace the churn just to break even. You’re on a treadmill, not a track. And the more you grow, the harder it is to outpace a high churn rate. That treadmill just moves faster and faster.